sauté

American  

[soh-tey, saw-] / soʊˈteɪ, sɔ- /

adjective

1. cooked or browned in a pan containing a small quantity of butter, oil, or other fat.

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verb (used with object)

sautéed, sautéing

1. to cook in a small amount of fat; pan-fry.

noun

1. a dish of sautéed food.

sauté British  

/ ˈsəʊteɪ /

verb

1. to fry (food) quickly in a little fat

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noun

1. a dish of sautéed food, esp meat that is browned and then cooked in a sauce

adjective

1. sautéed until lightly brown

   sauté potatoes

Etymology

Origin of sauté

1805–15; < French, past participle of sauter to jump (causative: to toss) < Latin saltāre, frequentative of salīre to jump

Explanation

To saute is to cook food over high heat, usually in butter or oil. Many recipes begin by instructing you to saute onions and garlic in olive oil. You can saute vegetables, meat, fish, or tofu. The quick, hot method of cooking browns the outer layer of food and keeps the inside flavorful. Sometimes saute is used as an adjective — you might buy your friend who loves to cook a fancy saute pan for his birthday. In French, the word sauté means "jumped" or "bounced," which also describes the way food jumps around the pan when you saute it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sauté sautéed sautéing

Instead of selling a suite of diverse products, millennial brands focused on the “only” T-shirt, mattress or sauté pan you’ll ever need.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

I regularly sear it, roast it, grill it and sauté it whole.

From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2025

But with you, it’s, ‘Well, can I sauté it in brown butter?’

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2024

Cooks sauté it in olive oil, season it with onions or boil it into soup to make tasty, low-cost meals.

From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2024

Wanda stood up without a word and walked over to the kitchen, joining Ekemeni as she began to sauté greens in bacon fat.

From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro

Inspired by chef Fabio Trabocchi’s recipe for sautéed rainbow chard, my recipe is abundantly green and calls for 1/3 cup of chicken stock.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

Its signature breakfast included two sausages, two rashers of bacon and two fried eggs, with sautéed potatoes, baked beans and a grilled tomato for good measure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

An even older icon awaits at Phnom Penh, a 40-year-old Vietnamese-Cambodian restaurant where crowds eagerly wait their turn to try nearly-raw marinated butter beef and lotus root sautéed with chilies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025

I followed the advice of the person who took my order and added sautéed mushrooms and pepperoncini to my sandwich, bringing my total to $25.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025

In the morning, Eunjoo heated the barley tea and poured it into bowls of yesterday’s cold rice and served it with roasted seaweed, sautéed anchovies, and kimchee.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

Having dishes prepared in the same kitchen sections slows things down, so the options needed to vary between broiling, sautéing and frying shrimp, and options with or without pasta.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

We give grilled cheese a tasty — and somewhat healthful! — update by sautéing kale by the handful with caramelized onions to make the bulk of the filling for the sandwich.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 2, 2023

The chopping, sautéing and seasoning we see on this cooking-competition show might be more impressive than usual this year.

From New York Times ● Mar. 6, 2023

Add the celery and garlic, sautéing another 3 minutes, stirring often.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2023

That is the difference between sautéing and frying but there are one or two points about frying—this much abused way of cooking—that must be borne in mind if one would have the best results.

From Armour's Monthly Cook Book, Volume 2, No. 12, October 1913 A Monthly Magazine of Household Interest by Mary Jane McClure